The
Nissan Altra is an
electric car based on the R'nessa, produced between 1998 and 2002. It was introduced at the
Los Angeles International Auto Show on 29 December 1997. Nissan described the Altra as a combination of a
sedan,
SUV, and
minivan. It was mainly used as a
fleet vehicle in California for companies such as electric utilities. The Altra was equipped with a neodymium magnet 62 kW electric motor, and ran on
lithium ion batteries manufactured by
Sony. It had a range of between a charging interval of 5 hours, and a charge-discharge cycle over 1,000 times. The batteries were installed beneath the floor. Technologically, the Altra was significant as being the first production electric vehicle to use a lithium-ion battery. Nissan called this a third-generation battery (after
lead–acid and
nickel–metal hydride) and chose Li-ion primarily for its power density. ==References==